Kellogg Eyeing Agency Roster Cut From 30 Shops to Five

Companywide Push Led by Procurement Division

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Kellogg Co. is the latest major marketer to seek to consolidate its ad agency roster during the downturn.

The breakfast behemoth is hardly alone in looking to slash shops from its roster, as marketers such as Anheuser-Busch, Bayer and Emirates Airlines have all done so this year in bids to control costs and, in some cases, to clarify marketing messages by having fewer cooks concoct them.

The Kellogg effort, known internally as "Project Silver," is part of a companywide push led by its procurement division to control costs and designate "preferred vendors," according to people familiar with the matter.

One executive said the company is looking to cut the number of ad agencies with which it works to possibly as few as five or six, down from the 30-plus it works with currently.

Asked for more details, a Kellogg spokeswoman was tight-lipped. "On an ongoing basis, we have discussions across the broad remit of our partnerships regarding maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of our operations and efforts," she said with an e-mail to a request for a telephone interview. "Those ongoing conversations are confidential."

Kellogg's primary global creative agencies are Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett and WPP's JWT, although it's not clear whether this review, which will commence next month, threatens either agency's status. Of course, even if the result of the review only affects shops on the margins, the dollars involved are likely to be significant, seeing as Kellogg's global ad budget is the 29th largest in the world, exceeding $1 billion, according to Ad Age's December ranking of the top global marketers.

The Battle Creek, Mich.-based marketer works with a long list of agencies across multiple disciplines all over the world, including Burnett, Euro RSCG, Starcom, Rivet, Arc, Cole & Weber, Marketing Drive, Amazon Advertising, Lapiz and WonderGroup in the U.S. alone.

~ ~ ~Contributing: Rupal Parekh, Michael Bush, Kunur Patel

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Jeremy Mullman

Based in Ad Age's Chicago bureau, Jeremy covers alcohol and sports marketing, as well as Midwest agencies. He prefers to field story pitches and press releases via e-mail.